Blue Origin - New Glenn

[JB47394]

I can understand how that can be useful, but I thought it was supposed to launch this year? Where’s the “real hardware”?

Be fair. We could easily have said to SpaceX "When are they going to stop blowing up rockets and actually fly one to orbit?" "It's going to be a year from first flight and they're still blowing up rockets." Each company has their own process (e.g. a flawless first Vulcan flight from ULA). If Blue Origin misses their deadline, that's when you can trot out the criticisms. In the meantime, have a little faith. The year is only getting started.

 

[bxr140]

Where’s the “real hardware”?

There’s a thread on TMC for New Glenn.

 

[ecarfan]

We could easily have said to SpaceX "When are they going to stop blowing up rockets and actually fly one to orbit?"

Okay, but those are complete vehicles with engines that — mostly — ignite on command and pass through MaxQ and you know, do actual rocket stuff. They are designed and equipped to reach orbit and on the second try got within seconds of reaching orbital velocity.

 

[HVM]

“Stage 1 and 2 simulator hardware”?

I can understand how that can be useful, but I thought it was supposed to launch this year? Where’s the “real hardware”?

The stage 2 “simulator” looks…skeletal.

Whole thing is 'skeletal' because it's not the NG shown in scaesare's last post, but the Path Finder shown here, with upper stage simulator:

 

[Cosmacelf]

Perfect example of how SpaceX and Blue Origin are world's apart. SpaceX would never create a massive non-functional dummy upper stage just to test ground equipment. Instead they make a barely functional rocket prototype and launch the sucker, which happens to also do a much better test of ground equipment. They say Blue Origin is "hardware light", but that massive dummy upper stage is a huge investment. I'd call it more like "hardware dumb". It makes sense when you come from the world of cost plus contracts. But Blue Origin isn't a cost plus manufacturer, even if they'd like to be.

 

[HVM]

"SpaceX would never..."
Yes, but: ; P

Couple of SpX Pathfinders

 

[bxr140]

Perfect example of how SpaceX and Blue Origin are world's apart.

While true that they're very divergent in core philosophies, this is literally one of the most SX things Blue has done.

SX's driving principal across all of their development workstreams is basically "why go for the Full Monty when a Quarter Monty will do?" Why make the hopper(s) look like rockets when they're just trying to validate basic control logic? Why make the early ships orbital-capable when they're never going to leave the atmosphere? Iterate, iterate, iterate is forever the march.

In this case with Blue, why wait for a full flight rocket when the iteration at stake is validation of GSE (and teasing out of corollary procedures). Seriously, it doesn't get more First Principals than what Blue has done here. Problem: Need to check GSE and procedures. What minimally needed to solve the problem: mass/CG and interfaces. What's the most efficiency way to solve the problem? A fast and cheap erector set.

that massive dummy upper stage is a huge investment.

In fact, it's a crazy inexpensive investment that's paid significant iterative dividends (and beyond just the upthread tweet on verticalization).


Mind, if one wishes to make some informed criticism of the subject events there's certainly opportunity: The pad was finished a long time ago. The stage simulators were built (I think) around the time of the Apollo missions. The transporter-erector first showed up at LC-36 like 5 years ago. So...why didn't they try to do this earlier? Certainly Blue could offer justification like program priorities, available resources, waiting for parallel development, only having one dude welding together all the pieces of the transporter and it taking a really long time, etc...but it sure does seem like they could have done this exercise months ago...or more.

 

[HVM]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1760482488940474821

 

[HVM]

Not flight hardware yet: "Our pathfinder vehicle is rolling out and upending soon for the first time to undergo a series of tanking and mechanical system tests." (It is the NG shown in scaesare's last post)

 

[JB47394]

upended
/ˌəpˈendəd/
adjective

1. set or turned on its end or upside down.
   "an upended box"

 

[ecarfan]

Not flight hardware yet: "Our pathfinder vehicle is rolling out and upending soon for the first time to undergo a series of tanking and mechanical system tests." (It is the NG shown in scaesare's last post)

So what is now on the pad, as of last night, is not what we saw on Feb 13, “stage 1 and 2 simulator hardware”, but a completely different vehicle that BO released a photo of on Jan 26, shown horizontal inside an assembly building? (Post #18). The vehicle in that photo has no aerodynamic control surfaces.

Do we know if the vehicle now on the pad has engines?

 

[HVM]

New Glenn Rolls To Launchpad For Tanking Test | Aviation Week Network

A New Glenn test vehicle was rolled out from Blue Origin’s Integrated Test Facility on Feb. 21 for a launchpad tanking test.

aviationweek.com

"The ITT vehicle’s first stage does not include engines, as they were not needed for the test, said Jarrett Jones, senior vice president for New Glenn"

 

[scaesare]

And while it is only a non-functional pathfinder, they took opportunity to snap a cool pic:

 

[ecarfan]

And while it is only a non-functional pathfinder, they took opportunity to snap a cool pic:

View attachment 1020805

Is that Dave Limp on the left and Bezos on the right?

 

[scaesare]

Is that Dave Limp on the left and Bezos on the right?

Unsure... Jeffrey didn't tag him in his IG post...

 

[scaesare]

Looks like they are also in process of building a second rocket... the image filename is "pathfinders", but taken from a paywalled NYT article, so unsure if it's really a pathfinder as opposed to production hardware:

 

[ecarfan]

Is that Dave Limp on the left and Bezos on the right?

And…it was. See Ars article “Big year ahead,” says Jeff Bezos as New Glenn rocket rolls to launch pad

Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin's founder, was at Cape Canaveral to see his giant new rocket on the launch pad for the first time. "Just incredible to see New Glenn on the pad at LC-36," Bezos wrote on Instagram. "Big year ahead. Let’s go!"

But there are no engines installed on this vehicle.

On Wednesday, ground crews rolled a fully assembled New Glenn rocket out of the hangar at LC-36 and up the ramp to the launch mount… The next step will involve "several demonstrations of cryogenic fluid loading, pressure control, and the vehicle's venting systems," Blue Origin said. According to a report published by Aviation Week, Blue Origin will load this particular test vehicle with cryogenic liquid nitrogen as a stand-in for the super-cold methane and liquid oxygen propellants used by the first stage booster on an actual launch. The upper stage won't be loaded during this upcoming Integrated Tanking Test (ITT).

 

[ecarfan]

And…

there are some design differences between the BE-4s flown on Vulcan and the BE-4s assigned to New Glenn. For one thing, the BE-4s on New Glenn are designed to be reusable from the start, with Blue Origin attempting to recover the booster at sea beginning with the first New Glenn flight. ULA eventually wants to make its Vulcan rocket partially reusable, but for at least the next few years, the BE-4s on Vulcan will be single-use.

Ambitious. For New Glenn, I mean.

 

[ecarfan]

BO news starting at 5:44. New Glenn first stage was cryo tested on the launch pad.

 

[scaesare]

Manley's latest video referred to the recent 60 Minutes Segment on B.O. where they said they are targeting to land a lunar cargo mission on 12-16 months.

Color me skeptical.